1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data representation and more particularly to a stream architecture for data representation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional storage systems have implemented log files. These have typically been at the file system level. For example, a log-structured file system may append writes to a log. The log may be the only data structure on the disk, and is designed to increase write bandwidth. Logs are also typically designed to preserve only the “now” version of the file system. They are not typically configured to preserve historical data in a fashion that could support arbitrary point-in-time selection.
Some systems may implement log-structured file systems that are configured to perform very fast snaps, or may be configured to implement a block device, a virtual SCSI disk array. Regardless, conventional log files and corresponding systems typically either only preserve the “now”, so the log is just for write performance, or at most a preserved “now” and selected snapshots, and nothing in between.
What is needed is a data representation architecture that preserves a history of changes and includes support for arbitrary, after the fact point-in-time selection, as well as other data representations that are not found in or supported by existing logging techniques.